Xellos' Day Off
by Kuroneko19
Summary: The Trickster Priest is given an unexpected day off, but it doesn't include rest and relaxation!
1. Freedom! Now What?

_**Author's Note:**__ This little plot bunny (plunny for short LOL), has been in planning for quite some time now, and I am finally able to begin posting!_

_Xellos, everybody's favorite Trickster Priest, gets an unexpected day off! But is a day off for a monster really a good thing? Well, let's just say he isn't in for rest and relaxation! Actually, he gets quite a bit more than he bargained for! _

_All questions, comments, and/or suggestions are welcome. Let me know what you think!_

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_**Disclaimer: **__I do not own anything of _Slayers_, I just like to write. ^_^ _

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_My beloved readers, I present to you now…_

**Xellos' Day Off**  
By Kuroneko

**Chapter 1: Freedom! Now What?**

_Xellos the Trickster Priest resisted the temptation to stick a finger in one ear in order to make certain none of what the humans called "earwax" had somehow accumulated in it. Certainly, he wasn't hearing correctly. Lord Beastmaster hadn't _really_ said what he thought she had…_

_Had she?_

_Zelas Metallium caught the disbelieving look on her subordinate's face and rolled her eyes._

"_Yes, Xellos, you heard me correctly," she said, crossing her legs lazily. "You have a day off."_

**…**

Thus was how he came to be walking along the well-trodden road, tracks of wagons and horses coming together in odd patterns intermingled with the usual footprints left by both human and nonhuman. It was a very normal day in the Red World to be sure. Blue skies, green grass, birds in the air…

The clement conditions did little to improve his mood. To the unsuspecting world, he was, for today at least, a wandering priest taking in his surroundings with a grin as he walked. To anyone who knew him, he was a Mazoku who was currently in a rather foul mood, grinning or not.

A day off? Xellos, General-Priest to Lord Beastmaster Zelas Metallium, slayer of the golden dragons, and Trickster of Tricksters – _he_ was getting a _day off?_

Since when did no one of the Monster Race need him for some evil deed? No treachery, no secret treaties, no abhorrent scheme leading to the destruction of this fragile world? Not even a teensy request to break a few vases in a certain golden dragoness's shop while "gathering information" on the progress of a certain reborn ancient dragon?

_Nothing?_

Xellos gave a hefty sigh as he walked. For humans, having a day off mean rest and relaxation, a chance to unwind and do something for entertainment. As a monster, he didn't require any such things. He thrived on his duty, even when he loathed the assignment; he craved destruction and fear, relished in the cacophony of mortal emotions as he laid forth his own version of what he deemed "fun".

Having a day off was just… well, _boring_.

He stopped off the side of the road to sit on a large boulder on the edge of the nearby forest. Leaning his staff against the formation, he put his chin in his hands and rested his elbows on his knees as he thought. It seemed that monsters just weren't meant to do nothing, even for a few moments. All he wanted right at the moment was to irritate someone at the very least.

He raised an eyebrow. Now that Xellos thought about it, maybe having a day off wasn't quite so terrible after all. He'd been so busy with recent assignments that he hadn't been able to follow through with his normal routine of irking his on-and-off traveling "companions". The last he'd seen of Lina Inverse had been in passing on the Astral Plane, and he'd materialized briefly, just in time to see the flaming redhead whack Gourry Gabriev with a slipper, evidently for yet another characteristic display of idiocy.

That train of thought coupled with others:

Saillune Xellos steered clear of, mostly because of the overwhelming influx of positive energies within the city. That, and Princess Amelia Wil Tesla Saillune had the sickening habit of gushing, which never bode well for a monster of any caliber.

Taforashia held little interest to him these days. There simply was nothing there for him to work with any longer; not even fouling up the reconstruction sounded remotely appealing. Saillune and the revived kingdom had developed close ties, which only gave him further incentive to steer clear. If things kept going in the direction it had been, it would be only a matter time before Taforashia erected a barrier similar to the one surrounding the City of White Magic.

The Kingdom of Zoanna might have been interesting, but he'd been temporarily banned from there a few months back. Queen Martina Zoanna Mel Navratilova and her husband King Zangulus apparently hadn't appreciated his gift to them on their fourth wedding anniversary. How was he to know that no one in Zoanna would like a baby kraken? It wasn't _his_ fault that it grew larger than the Royal Dining Hall in less than a week!

Xellos grinned once more. Now that he thought about it, he really _hadn't_ had much time to irritate everyone. In order to rectify his lack of communication with his, ahem, "friends", he needed to pay them all a nice little visit. Especially Filia. It had been well over a month since he had popped up in her little mace and antiques shop. If memory served, she'd frightened off a good portion of her clientele that morning.

The grin intensified. Now, whom was he going to visit first?

His question was unexpectedly answered as a loud blast from within the forest behind shook him violently from his musings. Xellos turned around and raised an eyebrow. In his recent line of duty, flashes of red hair ordinarily accompanied loud blasts like that.

He grabbed his staff and quickly teleported in the direction of the blast. If he had come across Lina Inverse _this_ quickly, maybe his day off wouldn't be so bad after all!

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_Ah, now whatever could that loud blast be? Xellos is in for a loooong day! Until the next chapter!_


	2. Damsel in Distress

_**Author's Note:**__ I was really happy when I read all the wonderful reviews. I hadn't expected this story to have been so anticipated! Thank you all so very much! I'm glad everyone's looking forward to Xellos meeting Mimsy – and, _PsychoSongtress_ hit it on the head: Xellos isn't going to forget his day off by a long-shot! XD_

_I apologize for the late update– it's the last month of the semester, and finals are approaching (it's a bit frightening, considering it was only a few weeks ago that we had midterm exams o_0), so I wasn't able to keep to my schedule._

_Just as a quick side-note, _IDK_ brought up a good point about my usage of a number of OCs without having revealed their backstories. In response, I looked over my current works and realized that this is indeed something I'll have to rectify. For anyone interested, __**Slayers Plus**__, my ill-fated first Slayers fan fic that's in perpetual suspension, is indeed the intro for a majority of my OCs (I don't know why I can't get through this project – I really have no desire to abandon it). However, individual backstories will likely have to be developed in other tales. In particular is my oft-used OC, Jiima. Her backstory will definitely be presented in __**Full Circle**__, so be on the lookout. I'm hoping to begin posting it soon as well (at least as soon as I can, anyway)._

_Anyway, now to find out what that blast was about – hint: it isn't Lina Inverse!_

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**Chapter 2: "Damsel" in Distress**

_Resistance was futile._

_One treacherous gloved finger gently prodded into his ear and swirled around a bit before pulling out again. Xellos cracked an eye open to inspect his fingertip. Surprisingly enough, it was clean. Still, that didn't mean that wasn't some earwax in there somewhere…_

"_Xellos…" He raised his head to the voice of Lord Beastmaster, who was tapping her fingers on the arm of her throne testily. "If you feel the need to clean out those ears of yours, I'd appreciate it if you didn't do so in my presence."_

_He lowered his hand, giving her a sheepish grin. "But, with all due respect Lord Beastmaster, isn't there perhaps some tiny mission you might have for me? I'd be more than happy to –"_

"_**No**__, Xellos!" she barked, effectively cutting off her subordinate before he could continue. Still reclining lazily, she looked at him sharply. "I said you have a day off, and you are going to take it. Do as your master orders. Now, go on, shoo!"_

_With a wave of her hand, she not only dismissed him but also effectively sent him out of the room. Within a fraction of a second, Xellos found himself on a dusty road out in the middle of Ceipheid-knew-where. Without any plans or further thought, he began to walk._

**…**

In a whirlwind column of black, he touched down on a sturdy tree branch high above the cloud of dust that was beginning to settle. Xellos crouched to watch the event, anticipating the expected flashes of red and accompanying blond to enter his vision.

At first, he thought that he must have wound up in the wrong location: he could see no sign of any explosion, much to his chagrin. If this had been Miss Lina's work, half the forest would have most assuredly been obliterated. Destruction in the name of Inverse was a guarantee, magically induced or otherwise. For the trees to have remained intact after such a violent blast was a curiosity indeed.

His expectations for Lina Inverse to show up were further disappointed: rather than fiery red and accompanying golden blond, he was instead greeted with the unwelcoming sight of five filthy, unkempt highway robbers, all in varying degrees of shabbiness. Each one leered at the trunk of the tree across from the one in which Xellos was perched, blocking his view of whatever they were surrounding.

"Nice trick, girlie, but is that all you've got?" the furthest to the right, a thug with greasy black hair sneered. "It'll take more than _that_ to get rid of us."

A light _tsk_ came from the Trickster Priest. It seemed that no matter how many years passed, the rants of common bandits never gained any originality. Miss Lina's speculation that they all attended the same school or at least were required to meet a set of standard regulations may not have been very inaccurate after all.

"Now, no more trouble," growled another, one with a stereotypical eye patch and lengthy blue hair. "Just come with us and keep quiet."

Xellos could barely make out the timid response coming from the focal point of the dastardly bunch, but he was certain that it wasn't what they wanted to hear, judging by the actions of the first speaker, who walked closer to the tree trunk.

"Don't give us that line of crap. Yer comin' with us an' that's that!" a rough and tanned hand shot downward and roughly seized what the observing monster saw to be a fistful of dark teal hair.

A loud shriek pierced the silence of the forest as the greasy-haired bandit hauled his target up, causing Xellos to raise an eyebrow. It was common for bandits to assault young women, but certainly not _this_ young!

The owner of the long dark teal hair was in fact a child, certainly no older than three or four, dressed in a simple outfit consisting of a loose dark blue tunic and matching tights, a brown unbuttoned vest and small boots. She struggled considerably, but it was obvious that this was a useless effort.

Xellos sighed inwardly. While it was none of his business, it appeared that intervention would be unavoidably necessary.

**…**

The bandit leader hauled the screeching girl to eye-level and sneered. "After all this trouble, we've finally got you. Now, no more funny business, kiddie, an' shut yer trap or I'll box yer ears in!"

"My, my. This simply will not do at _all_."

The thugs turned to find a traveling priest with a staff of darkened and gnarled wood, set with a blood-red jewel at the top, standing behind them. His eyes were closed, and he wore a grin that easily grated their nerves.

"Whaddaya want?" the one holding the girl by her hair demanded, yanking her upward again and eliciting another sharp cry.

"Picking on defenseless children, are we?" Xellos wagged a disapproving finger. "As grown men, shouldn't you have more pride? Going after a little girl would give a person reason to question your dignity."

"You can cut yer preachin', Father," one with more gum than teeth sneered. "We got ourselves hired to bring in this youngin' an' that's just what we're gonna do."

"Oh, my. And being paid is good enough reason to harm a child?"

"Hey, if we was paid enough, we'd bag my old granny!" said the one with the eye patch. "Ya don't fool around when yer town's in an economic recession! Money is money!"

The monster considered this information. True, people often did anything to add weight to their purses, a fact he'd become even more familiar with in traveling with Miss Lina. _However_…

He continued to grin as he processed his thoughts. Miss Lina wouldn't have given these ruffians a second thought: a casual glance and an even more casual Fireball would be flung in their direction and that would be it. These men were common thieves, and hardly worth one's time.

Of course, Xellos didn't have the brash temperament Miss Lina possessed. Doing things methodically and sensibly was more his style. And getting a nice meal out of it was always welcome. After all, today _was_ his _day off_, he recalled, now with mild satisfaction; it couldn't hurt to splurge a little. At the very least, it would alleviate impending boredom.

"Money is money, that much is true, I admit," he said pleasantly, taking a few steps forward, "but it certainly isn't hard-earned if it's profited without exerting any effort."

"What's that you say?" the ruffian gave the little girl another jerk by the hair, and pointed a dagger at her. "You think we didn't hafta put up a fight to bag this kid? Yer outta yer tree if yer thinkin' nabbin' her was easy, Preacher." The dagger pointed in the priest's direction. "So unless yer lookin' to meet yer maker, I'd step aside an' let us do our job."

"While I appreciate your generosity, I must admit that I am already very well acquainted with my maker, and am currently in her good favor," replied the Trickster Priest. "And while I commend you for your dedication, I'm afraid that on behalf of both myself and that young lady, I really must insist you leave well enough alone."

"He- what the nine hells is he ramblin' on about?" Eye-patch demanded, shaking his head to try to make sense of the priest's remark.

"Never mind that!" the leader snapped. He glared in Xellos' direction. "An' just what gives you the right to butt in?"

"I have a suspicion that your intentions are not at all benign." The little girl had given up her struggle and was staring at him in wonderment, not too certain what to make of the strange man with purple hair. "I must admit to some curiosity as to what you have planned for her, now that you have her."

"What's it to you? Go find someone else to pester!"

"Dear me… I go to all this trouble to be polite, and yet you still insist on being so frightfully rude." Xellos clucked his tongue in disapproval.

"Didn't ya hear the boss?" the toothless one snapped. "Mind yer own business and go preach somewhere else!"

Xellos chuckled lowly, earning uneasy looks from the gang of bandits. Uncertainty, anxiety, a tiny hint of fear… a wonderfully concocted mixture of emotions wafted towards him in rather maddeningly small quantities. A precursor to a brunch he would undoubtedly have to provoke.

Oh, well. The only true meal was a meal well earned.

"Unfortunately for you gentlemen, I'm afraid that I'm not the type of priest who relies on spoken word alone." Here, he opened one eye mischievously, inwardly gloating a little at the heightened fear the group was emitting simply at the sight. The leader was so startled that he'd dropped the little girl; the child herself had scampered off to hide behind the tree she'd been huddling up against previously. "I prefer to put it into practice."

"In that case, yer gonna regret not stayin' in yer church!" Eyepatch growled, and lunged with his broadsword unsheathed.

Xellos easily dodged the oncoming blow and spun around before effortlessly hitting another assailant across the chest with his staff.

"I was never much one for staying in one place, either," he said cheerfully as the rest of the group gasped.

From behind the tree, the little girl's head poked out, watching Xellos' actions intently as he continued on the defensive, an action the Trickster Priest took notice of in-between fluid dodges and clean swipes with his staff. Her hair fell in a long and messy mop, almost reminiscent of drooping feathers, down to her bottom, a set of mismatched eyes staring from beneath uneven bangs. In another graceful dodge, Xellos noted that the left eye was the exact same color as her hair, while the right was inexplicably gold, almost like honey.

If there was anything the Trickster Priest would admit to at this moment, aside from having fun "playing with his food", as the saying goes, it was relief at finding that the damsel in distress was only a child. The last time he'd the occasion to finagle with humans in such a manner was rescuing the then Princess of Zoanna Martina, and he'd resorted to a bit of showing off as a way of impression. He'd found over the years that, for some strange reason, female humans liked a bit of dramatics in such instances.

At least with a little girl, he could act more like himself. That made things even easier. And entertaining. So far, this day off wasn't quite as bad as he'd anticipated.

"Would you hold still so I can stab you?" Eye-patch yelled, taking another lunge.

Xellos chuckled at the influx of irritation he felt coming from the man. "No, thank you. I find unnecessary injury to be quite a hindrance." He nimbly dodged to the side and clocked the insolent bandit on the head, promptly knocking him out.

He slowed to a stop, surveying his handiwork in satisfaction. The bandits were out cold; they probably would not awaken for a good twenty minutes or so. When they _did_ wake, he was certain they'd feel mortification. Having been so easily defeated by a solitary traveling priest was certainly not anything a bandit would care to brag about. Maybe he'd return after a time for second helpings, unless of course he was preoccupied with other things. If either Miss Lina or Filia was in her usual humor, he needn't bother coming back.

Another quick look around revealed that the girl had likely fled.

With a grin, he turned on his heel, the idea being that he would walk away the unsung and mysterious Good Samaritan in priest garb. He'd "eaten" his fill, and he would take his leave; with any luck, the child would find a kind person to take her in until she was returned to her family. Likely, the bandit gang had been the product of some family feud; such was often the case. Hiring bandits was a man's train of thinking: perhaps the girl's father had hired the unsavory bunch to kidnap her from her mother's care so that the father would rescue her. Parents were often unquestionably foolish when it came to their offspring.

Unfortunately for the Trickster Priest, the practice of simply leaving the scene of a rescue never turned favorable results, as evidenced by his saving Martina a few years ago. Why he thought the act would work here was something he'd question himself on in many years, if not centuries, to come.

There was a light tug at the edge of his cloak. Xellos halted and cast a closed-eyes glance behind him and downward, finding the little girl he'd rescued giving him a toothy grin, big mismatched teal and gold eyes peeking out from behind the messy mop of dark teal bangs. She hadn't taken off after all, surprisingly.

"Thank you, Mr. Monster Priest!" she chirped happily, still tugging at his cloak.

It was at this remark that Xellos suddenly froze. Stiffly, he turned around completely, those innocent mismatched orbs staring back at him with glowing adoration. The influx of positive emotions wasn't exactly what was bothering him though.

How had she known he was a monster?

**…**

A set of icy eyes narrowed, concealed in the lower branches of a nearby conifer. Slinking body wrapped around the branch to maintain a decent grasp as it observed its target.

'_Xellos-priest…'_ it thought bitterly with a hiss, tongue flitting out in irritation. _'Master will be most displeased… Klisp must not tell Master…'_

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_**A/N:** Xellos coming across this little girl (guess who?) in such a fashion was a bit stereotypical, but that was rather the idea. Actually, the situation is anything __**but**__. I rarely entertain a stereotype unless I have a specific reason. Stereotypes are meant to be suspicious. LOL. And who might this shadowy Klisp be?_

_Well… that's a secret. ^.^ Until the next chapter!_


	3. What to do? What to do?

_**Author's Note:**__ Hi there! Sorry I wasn't able to update as scheduled – I had a few things that took priority, and wasn't able to log in for a few days. Hopefully, I'll be able to get back on track soon. Here's the next chapter! ^_^_

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**Chapter 3: What to do, What to do?**

"_That's funny… I figured out Xellos was a monster a long time ago."_

The shock of hearing such a statement come from Gourry Gabriev of all people had been one of those rare moments that Xellos found himself speechless. How someone as seemingly unintelligent as that particular descendant of the Swordsman of Light had discovered his identity so early on was a mystery that, to this day, he could not solve.

He was obliged to take the solution that Zelgadis had offered: that it was attributed to "animal instinct". In a mercenary, Xellos assumed that such could likely be the case. Gourry Gabriev hadn't the cranial capacity of a normal person, but he _did_ have impeccable instinct. Of _that_, the Trickster Priest was certain.

But he didn't believe for an instant that "animal instinct" would be the case here.

At three or four, a little girl couldn't possibly have developed the kind of survival instincts a mercenary would have. And it couldn't have been something she'd decided on just by watching him fight. He hadn't done anything _that_ extravagant. "Animal instinct" was instantly ruled out.

So, how then –?

The girl continued to yank at the hem of his cloak, her happy smile revealing several missing teeth. She was a tiny little thing and a bit thin for a child her age. She had dark circles under her eyes, and her hair was a right mess, limp and tangled. But, despite bedraggled appearance, she certainly was full of energy!

"Mr. Monster Priest, that was really, really, _really_, _**really**_ cool!" she chirped, taking the hem and pulling it as she proceeded to bounce in a circle around him.

Xellos spun round and round as the girl dragged him along, feeling certain that he was about to lose his balance at any given moment.

"I got saved by a Monster Priest, a Monster Priest, a Monster Priest!" she sang happily as she spun him around. "I got saved by a Monster Priest! And now all the bad men fall down! Yay!"

"H-hey! Whoa! Take it easy!" he cried, clutching his staff to maintain his balance. "If you don't stop that, _I'll_ fall down as well!"

"Huh?" she stopped, and looked up to see the distressed look on the monster's face. "Oops! I'm sorry!"

Xellos fell on his bottom with a _plop_. He wasn't sure which was making him feel ill: the positive energy, or the whirling scenery.

The little girl sat down right in front of him and leaned forward, curiosity written all over her face.

"Wow! I didn't think monsters got dizzy, too! That's neat!"

Inwardly, Xellos frowned. Twirling a monster around to the point of dizziness wasn't exactly what he would call "neat". More like theoretically impossible – he'd never heard of a monster getting dizzy, either. Once again, he was finding the disadvantages of maintaining a human appearance. This was a solid Number Two on his complaints sheet. Number One was a little more embarrassing.

"You must be a nice monster," the child continued, crawling over to get closer. "My mommy always said that there were nice monsters, and Mommy was always right, so you _have_ to be – ACHOO!"

Xellos' eyes flew open as he felt a sudden weight fall on his legs. The girl's sneeze had apparently been a bit much for her: she'd fallen over.

"Stupid allergies," she sniffed, rubbing her nose with the back of her sleeve and she tried to sit up straight. She looked up again with another grin, which fell as soon her mismatched orbs locked onto his amethyst shards.

If there was one thing that Xellos never ceased to find amusement in observing, it was the various methods in which monsters tended to sneak in a bit of themselves whenever it came to taking on a human form. Novices had a tendency to exaggerate: horns, wings, the wrong skin color, insane fashion concepts, you name it. Those who were truly skilled in the matter were certainly more discreet. Well, some. Several monsters that readily came to mind varied in presentation: with that fool Kanzel, it was a bad attempt at looking like some kind of circus performer with the wrong skin color; Mazenda had at least made a _somewhat_ better attempt, although he personally thought she'd had a bit too much forehead and her clothing could have used some work. Then there was another monster, Zorom, who'd made an agreement with the Red Priest, and _he'd_ gone for an appearance that was reminiscent of Father Time with bad skin and too many eyes. Overall, bad taste. They may have had power, but they could have done better with their appearances.

He gave Sherra some credit: she made for a convincing woman, although she was hardly the friendliest of individuals. And she certainly showed her rank through her clothing, which was a nice and subtle indication of her identity, even though humans would never guess it. And of course there was Miss Jiima, but she couldn't really be counted, seeing as she wasn't a monster.

Xellos, though…

Like Sherra, his attire reflected his position. Those bandits were clear examples of how useful and effective his costume was. Look like a harmless wandering priest bearing a smile and you were guaranteed to fool just about anyone. Such subtle deception was a beautiful thing. It wasn't until he opened his eyes that a person would be really aware of what he was.

If there was one thing Xellos had always rather prided himself on, it was the fact that his eyes were enough to unnerve anyone. It was sleek, it was subtle, and it was wonderfully original. As far as he knew, there weren't any other monsters running around with _his_ eyes. Most monsters showed themselves simply through clothing styles, but Xellos had a method. He'd never reveal his inspiration, of course; no, _that_ little tidbit of information was definitely a _secret_.

"Wow…" the little girl began, eyes widening even more than he'd thought possible. Uncertainty and cautious curiosity began to envelope her tiny frame, enough to assure Xellos that his little method was in effect again.

Once again, this child proved to act just the opposite of his expectations:

"You have really pretty eyes!"

"_HUH?_"

"Yeah! They're just like a kitty's!" she squealed, and pounced right onto the face-faulting Trickster Priest and knocking him onto his back. "I love kitties! And your hair is really shiny, too! I bet it feels like bunny fur!"

'_**Bunny fur**__?'_ It was a good thing he'd closed his eyes again – he wasn't sure what reaction they'd show.

"You really are a handful, aren't you?" he said, pulling her tiny hands from his hair before they could latch on properly.

"Yup, yup!" she replied happily, oblivious to the irritation he'd had in his tone as she sat back on his chest. "That's what Mr. Frigid says to me all the time!"

Xellos raised an eyebrow. "Mr. … _Frigid?_"

She nodded emphatically. "Yup, yup. He's a really, really, cold person –colder than an ice cube! His house, too! So, I called him Mr. Frigid! He doesn't like the name, though, but I think it suits him."

"So, I take it that this 'Mr. Frigid' is your caretaker?" Xellos asked hopefully. If that were the case, all he had to do was get a description and turn the girl right over so he could be on his way. Annoying Filia during her lunch break sounded like a wonderful idea at the moment.

But the dark and haunted look that passed over the child's tiny face quickly wiped away the mental vision of a raging golden dragoness.

"Nuh-uh!" she said, shaking her head violently. "Mr. Frigid's a really big meany, and he doesn't like me at all! He had me locked in a bunch of cold, scary places and wouldn't let me out or even let me wear a coat!"

Xellos frowned. "Well, then, where is your mother?"

The smile fell from her face. He felt a definite sadness overcome her aura. "A bunch of ugly things went and made my mommy go to sleep. I tried to wake her up, but she just kept sleeping no matter how hard I shook her. She slept for a whole week before anybody came, and she still didn't wake up, even when the men put her in a big blanket and wrapped her up."

Strike that option. "And your father?"

The dark look crossed over her face again. "He's the one who made me live with Mr. Frigid!"

The frown deepened. Deceased mother, deadbeat father, and an evil custodian. Typical – he just _had_ to get the run-of-the-mill orphan, didn't he? Unfortunately, run-of-the-mill didn't mean finding an easy solution. These kind of situations often generated even bigger problems, no matter _how _stereotypical they were. And on his _day off_ of all days…

"So, I take it you ran away?"

Again, the child shook her head. "Nuh-uh. Mr. Frigid had me sent back to my daddy, and _he_ threw me in a really scary forest. I just started wandering around, and when I got back, Daddy told me I couldn't come home."

"Did he say why?"

"Nope. He seemed really angry, though. I don't know what I did to make him mad. He just told me to find my way out again after he dropped me somewhere in the middle, so that's what I did."

"Dropped you _'somewhere in the middle'_?" That didn't sound right, even to him. He'd heard of parents sending their offspring on little quests to seek their proverbial fortunes and other trifles, but this didn't seem to fit the bill. For starters, that was more for boys, not girls, and she was far too young for that sort of thing. At least that's what he'd always heard. "And after your father turned you out, what did you do?"

She put a finger up to her mouth and looked up in thought. "After that… I went around the scary forest and came up to this _looooong_ road. So I just walked along it and thought I felt something even scarier follow me. Then I ran into the woods here."

"Is that when you ran into those bandits?"

"Mmhmm." The grin returned and Xellos suddenly found himself with a pair of small arms latched tightly around his neck. "And then you came and saved me! Those bad guys were following me for days and days and then you came!"

"Yes, yes – my, you have a strong grip!" he choked, attempting to pry himself free. The little girl only squeezed tighter in response.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" the grip relaxed, and the weight shifted back to his chest. "I forgot to tell you my name! It's Mimsy!"

"Mimsy?" Xellos wheezed, raising an eyebrow.

"Yup, yup!" Mimsy nodded. "Mimsy Chthonia Táchira Borogoves. But that's a mouthful, so it's Mimsy Borogoves, or better yet, just Mimsy."

Mimsy Borogoves? Whoever had named her had been quite original. But while he was definitely familiar with at least the first of her two middle names, her birth name and her surname were what really struck a chord. He'd heard them from somewhere, he was certain. He just couldn't put his finger on it.

"What's your name?"

"Hmm?" he looked back up at her quizzically.

"I can't just keep calling you 'Mr. Monster Priest', silly!" Mimsy giggled. "My mommy gave me my names. Everybody's mommy gives them a name! What did _your_ mommy name you?"

Xellos had to choke back the sudden urge to laugh. "Mimsy… Monsters don't have '_mommies'_. We have _masters_. That's very different."

"Huh?" she cocked her head to one side. "But masters don't always make the monsters that work for them, right?"

"Well… no…" he began slowly, wary of the direction the conversation was going. "Although our masters are usually our creators, too…"

"And that makes them either a mommy or a daddy," she affirmed with a nod. "So, what did your mommy or daddy name _you_?"

"Xellos," he replied, giving up the internal conflict of wondering how such a small child could rationalize such things.

"See, now was that so bad?" Her face lit up, meeting with his curious stare. "Okay, then, from now, Mr. Monster Priest is officially Uncle Xellos!"

"_Uncle_ Xellos?" He was sure he looked like a gaping fish right about now, eyes bulging and all.

"Yup, yup!" That had to be her favorite catchphrase. "Hey, Uncle Xellos?"

He did his best not to cringe at the endearment. "Hmm?"

"When do you think the bad men will wake up again? I hope it isn't soon, because they smell bad and I don't like them."

He glanced over to the side and couldn't help but share the sentiment. "Alright. Let me up so I can think properly." Mimsy complied with bright nod, and jumped off him, allowing him to sit up. Just as soon as he'd crossed his legs, however, the tiny child plopped right into his lap.

"I like you," she said, leaning back into his chest and looking up with another big grin. "You're comfy."

Xellos frowned inwardly as he considered the little girl in his lap as she turned her attention to the edge of his cloak again. Getting rid of Mimsy wasn't going to be as simple as he'd anticipated. There went Miss Lina's theory that there was always someone willing to offer a reward for a missing person.

What was he going to do with her? He most certainly wasn't about to keep her – Lord Beastmaster would have a fit if he brought this little bundle of positive emotions within five hundred miles of Wolf Pack Island! An orphanage was a viable option, but somehow he didn't think that would work out well. There were too many odd things about this child for him to leave her in some random place. And now that she'd attached the "uncle" title to him… this wouldn't be easy.

He'd have to think while walking. Mimsy was right: those bandits were bound to wake up soon, and he really didn't want to deal with them a second time either. He doubted that they could have provided him with the necessary information, anyway…

Something shifted in the branches overhead. Xellos jerked his head in the direction of the sensation, his brow furrowed. Whatever it had been, it had disappeared as quickly as it came. Strange, but he could have sworn he felt a –

A sharp tugging on either side of his head brought him back to reality as he pitched forward, and amethyst eyes snapped open to find himself nose-to-nose with Mimsy, who was grinning with fistfuls of purple hair in her tiny hands.

"See? It's just like I thought: your hair really _does_ feel like bunny fur!"

* * *

_**A/N:**__ A few notes on Mimsy's names:_

_Chthonia I got from a bit of Greek mythology. Interestingly enough, it tied in with her second middle name, Táchira, which I got from the cryptical bird special Táchira Antpitta – its scientific name is __**Grallaria chthonia**__. _

_Now, as for the rest of her name – simply, Mimsy Borogoves – I derived it from elsewhere. Kudos to anyone who can guess where! ^_^ And it'll be mentioned later on in the story, too._


	4. A Scary Follower & an Incident in Saillu

_**Author's Note:**__It was really hectic last week. My finals are over, and I think I did really well. Yay! ^_^. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen computer issues, I wasn't able to log onto the internet for a good majority of the week. But I'm back, now! Yay! I'm going to try to get back to my intended update schedule - I've already begun writing Chapter 5, so I think I'll be able to finish it in time. ^_^_

_Something I noticed in a few reviews was the reaction to how I've been portraying Xellos in the story. As _cyberimp6 _pointed out, Xellos' character is more along the lines of how he acted in NEXT, and not quite so much in subsequent seasons. To be honest, Xellos on a whole can be a very difficult character to illustrate, especially in instances such as this. In my observations, I've noticed that Xellos tends to have a lighter personality whenever he has a bit of leeway in regards to his assignments, a few examples being the duration of NEXT and during a few episodes in the other seasons (tormenting Filia for fun, running Wizer around in that dungeon, etc.). I'm trying to keep up with that aspect of his personality, given that he isn't involved with any assignments at the moment. _

_A question posed was if Xellos was being a bit more good-natured than normal. I'm not all that certain how Xellos would react having a kid following him around; actually, I'm not sure just how much experience with children he's had. In the tale, I've referred back to the incident involving Xellos' rescuing Martina, something that was never really explained. Whatever his reasons, I doubt that Xellos expected her to hang around him for so long, and eventually used it to his advantage (or comic relief, at the very least. Given Phibrizzo's handling of her later in NEXT, I doubt she had anything to do with the plot; she was just there, and was relatively insignificant up until she was dying). This is sort of the same for Mimsy: Xellos decides to intervene for reasons unfathomable, and winds up with a little girl clinging to him. I guess you could say he doesn't really have a choice in the matter – Mimsy's just going to follow him anyway. LOL_

_At the end of the chapter are a few "housekeeping" notes to let everyone know what's going on as far as story updates._

_And now, on with the story!_

* * *

**Chapter 4: A Scary Follower and an Incident in Saillune**

"_So, following you around all this time has finally paid off."_

Looking back to when he'd first unveiled himself to Lina Inverse as the "mysterious" priest, he now realized the true significance of that statement. If he hadn't been instructed to more-or-less stalk the fiery redhead, he undoubtedly would have had a few difficulties in locating her. True, wherever the feared Bandit Killer wandered, destruction was left in her wake; however, Miss Lina was good at hiding, which was what _really_ made her a fearsome force to be reckoned it. It wasn't just wanton destruction and Dragon Slave craters that made people fear her – it was the fact Lina Inverse could turn up anytime, anyplace, and always without warning. It wasn't until she let loose one of her spells that anyone knew that the Enemy of All Who Live had come to town. _That_ was what really scared the general populace.

And tracking Gourry Gabriev was no easier. While no magic user by any means, the blond swordsman was hidden so long as he remained by Miss Lina's side. The Bandit Killer was no fool: _anyone_ who traveled with her was bound to be covered by some kind of protection spell. The former Swordsman of Light was no exception.

Still, he had to try…

"Uncle _Xellos_," Mimsy whined, yanking at his cloak again, "when are we going to find these friends of yours?"

Xellos sighed inwardly. A full hour had passed since they'd left the unconscious bandits, and for a better part of the trek, Mimsy had subjected him to what he could only assume was a child's version of Twenty Questions. "I already told you: Miss Lina is a very difficult person to find –"

"Even for a monster?"

"Yes, even for a monster."

"Even for a monster as cool and powerful as you?"

"Well, sometimes, yes."

Mimsy was clearly impressed. "Wow! If she can hide from _you_, Uncle Xellos, I bet she could hide from Mr. Frigid, too!"

Xellos raised an eyebrow. "Why would you say that?"

"Because Mr. Frigid watches just about everything that he thinks is interesting," Mimsy said matter-of-factly, nodding as sagely as a four-year-old could. "And when Mr. Frigid thinks you're something interesting, you can't ever, ever hide from him unless he wants you to. But then he just goes and finds you again!"

"Your 'Mr. Frigid' sounds like a very peculiar individual," Xellos remarked with a frown.

"Nuh-uh. Just cold."

Xellos continued to frown as he scanned the Astral Plane. The more Mimsy talked, the more suspicious he became. There was something odd about this little girl, names notwithstanding. And he really had to know…

"Mimsy, may I ask you a question?"

"Yup, yup!"

"How did you know I was a monster priest?"

"Huh?" she cocked her head to one side. "Well, you are one, aren't you?"

"Yes. And I'm very curious to know how _you_ knew that."

"Well, you look like one."

"A priest, yes. But not a monster." He stopped to kneel down to her level. "I'm very curious to know how you were able to tell."

"I just knew," she said brightly with a wide grin.

"_Mimsy_." Xellos' tone was ominous as he opened his eyes, direction a stern gaze in her direction. He didn't know much about children, but his experiences with humans had taught him that the right kind of intimidation was often a good inducer for gathering information.

For a moment, it appeared as though his tactic was beginning to work. The little girl shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. She looked down and began to fidget, the usual indication that she'd like to be anywhere but in his line of sight. She mumbled something that he didn't catch.

"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" he asked, tone coming out both coaxing and warning, causing her unease to increase.

"I don't like it when you look at me like that," she said after a moment, wringing her hands together nervously. "You look like Daddy and Mr. Frigid."

Xellos frowned, but obligingly closed his eyes. Once again, Mimsy had eluded his expectations. This kind of fear he felt coming from her would get him nowhere.

"Come on," he said, using his staff to help himself up. He turned on his heel and began to walk again. "I still can't find Miss Lina, so I'll just have to –"

"Wait! Don't leave me!" Xellos had to brace himself from falling forward as Mimsy's tiny form collided into the back of his legs. He twisted around to find her clutching onto his cloak with her face buried in the material. "Don't leave me with the scary thing!"

"Scary thing?" he raised an eyebrow.

She nodded frantically, causing her hair to move along with her bobbing head and glinting in the sunlight despite its tangled state. "It's the scary thing again!"

Xellos' frown deepened as he looked about their surroundings. For a moment, he thought Mimsy might have been imagining things.

But it was no figment of imagination. No sooner had the thought crossed his mind he felt it. There was definitely another presence – a lower-level Mazoku by the feel of it. It was coming from the set of trees to his left. Whoever it was, though, he didn't recognize them.

The frown turned into a scowl. What was another monster doing in the vicinity? If they were looking for him, they needn't have bothered hiding. Everyone in the Monster Race knew him by his reputation. Sneaking about would do them no favors.

The other monster's presence was certainly unwelcome, especially as Xellos was officially off-duty for the day. And the fact that Mimsy had noticed the thing before he had –

Xellos froze again. A simple human girl would _never_ have been able to notice anything before he did. As far as he could tell, Mimsy was as normal as any other human child, but there was too much that stated otherwise. And if the monster watching them was after Mimsy, he now had even more reason not to let her out of his sight. Especially since she'd said "again".

He had no choice. As easy as it would be to deal with this obvious fool, he had an inkling that doing so at this junction would provide him no answers. He'd have to continue his search for Miss Lina later – he needed to get more information before he acted.

He twisted around and knelt back down to the girl's level.

"Mimsy, how would you like me to take you somewhere?" he asked.

She sniffed and looked up. "Did you find Miss Lina?"

"No, but I can think of someone who might know where to find her," he said cheerfully, raising a finger for emphasis.

Mimsy's face brightened at bit, but the beginnings of a smile quickly faded as she looked over to the set of trees where the presence was. "Will the scary thing follow us again?"

"Oh, I don't think so. We're going somewhere that the 'scary thing' won't be able go to without getting hurt. How does that sound?"

"Okay!" she let go of his cloak and grabbed the hand he'd extended to her with a broad smile.

Xellos smirked as he grasped her tiny hand. It was quite true what he'd said: no low-ranking monster would be able to handle the positive energies that Saillune had to offer. The barrier protecting the City of White Magic was a nuisance even for him, but it would provide him with a chance to think peacefully.

A quick check on the Astral Plane confirmed that the person he was looking for was indeed at home. Interestingly though, she didn't seem to be having a very pleasant day.

**…**

As soon as the Trickster Priest and the tiny girl had vanished from sight, the monster in the tree fell down with a crash. The branch hadn't been able to support him for as long as he'd anticipated.

Klisp shook his head to and fro in an attempt to ward off the dizziness. Pale charcoal and dusty blue scales glinted in the sunlight, much to his annoyance. He _hated_ the warmth of the sun!

"Sssso, little girl found Klisssp out before Xellosss-priessst," he hissed to himself. "That'sss not good. And they went to Sssaillune." He shuddered at the name. "Klisssp mussst follow. Little girl can't run forever."

**…**

"Mr. Aeron, I don't expect you to fully understand Saillune's policies on our ancient ruins," Princess Amelia Wil Tesla Saillune began, glaring down at a cringing young man with skin that was inexplicably grey and hair that shone too brightly. "However, _Mr. Zelgadis_ –" blue eyes rounded on the three-part chimera next to him "– knew perfectly well that what he was doing was wrong!"

"Geez, Zel, what were you thinking?" Lina Inverse grinned at the two devilishly. "Destroying the ancient catacombs outside the western entrance – talk about careless!"

"Like I told you all before," Zelgadis said testily, "it was _an accident_. All I was doing was trying to decipher some ancient writing left behind from approximately three hundred years ago. Because it's holy ground that negates magic, we had to resort to using ordinary methods of illumination. It isn't _my _fault that a stick of dynamite got lit up in the dark!" he shot a set of sapphire eyes in the direction of his now gloom-enshrouded cure-hunting partner.

"How was I supposed to know?" Aeron wailed miserably. "It was all dark in there, and the dynamite package was right next to the box of candles in your sack! And they felt the same!"

"I thought you said you could see pretty well in the dark." Zelgadis' evil look intensified.

Lina was smirking away, personally enjoying the banter. So far, she'd been having a satisfying day: no sooner had she and Gourry arrived in Saillune after bandit-bashing in Ralteague, they decided to pay a visit to Amelia and grab a royal buffet. A massive explosion occurred outside the western entrance not long after they'd entered the city, sending up a good portion of the walls and decimating the lookout tower on that side. Thinking there was trouble, they'd dashed over to scene, only to discover, to Lina's hysterical amusement, that the cause of the explosion had been two cure-hunting chimeras, Zelgadis Greywers ready to kill his partner at any given moment.

Aeron Guthrie was a chimera made up of a human, an evil-tempered demon, and a small shard of Mazoku. Like Zelgadis, he'd once been an ordinary human looking for a way to become stronger. And, like Zeladis, he got it – just not in the way he'd liked it. Of the two of them, Zel had been the luckier one: at least _he_ hadn't lost control of his mind to one of his chimera components. Aeron _had_, and was only now getting used to being somewhat "normal".

Well, as normal as he could be, given that he was still dealing with bouts of schizophrenia. Lina had to give the guy credit, though: he was doing pretty well so far. Whiny and a hopeless klutz, but that at least was _tolerable_ in comparison to everything else in the past.

Unfortunately, it looked like Zelgadis was about ready to revoke the younger chimera's new lease on life with this latest blunder. Out of all the cursing and yelling, Lina'd gathered that in the time since they'd all separated, Aeron had activated overly complicated booby traps, enacted three curses that Zel had to undo, nearly gotten them captured by chimera enthusiasts – the list seemed to drag on. It looked like the ever-suffering great-grandson of Rezo the Red Priest had only found additional misery with his newfound companion.

"Who lit the dynamite isn't the issue here," Amelia said sternly, and threw her hands down on the table, causing pieces of chicken and various other poultry to go up in the air. Lina and Gourry had gotten their banquet, alright – it just happened to be in the cell Saillune's guard was keeping the two tomb raiders in until it was decided what to do with them. "Mr. Zelgadis, you _knew_ that nobody's allowed to explore the catacombs without first obtaining official licensing! How could you just break in there without even going through protocol?"

"Because we went in the restricted section," Aeron put in, only to be sent back to cringing as Zelgadis gave him another glare.

"Mr. Zelgadis, how _could_ you?"

"Well, there is _one_ good thing that came out of this," Gourry announced, holding up a drumstick for emphasis.

"Oh? And what's that?" Lina inquired mildly.

"This is the first time there's been destruction in Saillune and Lina didn't have anything to do with it!"

**…**

Xellos smirked off to the side as he heard the group face-fault and crash. This couldn't have been more perfect: here, he'd been looking all over for Miss Lina, and looked like he'd found not only her but everyone else! Coming Saillune had been a wise choice after all. He could kill two birds with one stone.

Perfect. That was just the way he liked things.

* * *

_**A/N:**__ Yeah, I decided to let my OC Aeron make an appearance here. I needed a reason for Zelgadis to show up, and Aeron was the perfect scapegoat. XD _

_Before I forget, I'll be having one other OC appearing here later on (I couldn't resist putting her in - it was inevitable. LOL). And yes, Filia will be making an appearance! Val, too! How could I not let them appear – the opportunity is just too perfect! XD_

_Okay, as for "housekeeping":_

_**Nights of the Stranger – **__I haven't had much of a chance to write anything here, but I'll try to get back to Sunday updates as soon as I can._

_**Winter Wishings – **__Nearly complete! I'll try to have it updated by Wednesday, but I can't guarantee anything just yet._

_**The Epicurean – **__During finals, I was forced to put this story on temporary hiatus. I'm not sure when I'll be able to resume updates, but keep an eye open. This is one of my personal favorites, so rest assured that it'll be updated again eventually._

_**Slayers Plus – **__Ah, yes, the story that keeps giving me issues. I'm proud to say that the prologue through Chapter 4 has been updated, and Chapter 5 is nearly finished with editing process. As soon as I've fixed all the plot holes, Chapter 8 will be posted. I'm estimating another week or so before I can properly update, so keep an eye out. This story will definitely be pulled off the hiatus list._

_For anyone who has been following my __**Ouran HSHC**__ fic, __**True Confessions**__, Chapter 5 is nearly complete, and will posted soon. I'm so sorry for the long wait!_

_Whew. Man, have I got a lot of projects going on! LOL Sorry I wasn't able to get back to individual reviews – like I said, it's been hectic. Until the next chapter!_


	5. Mimsy and the Plushie

_**Author's Note:**__ Hi there! Sorry I didn't get this out sooner – battling a stomach virus for over a week made writing an impossibility. Ugh. I'm so glad I'm finally getting over this darn thing. I'll try to get the next chapter done by next week. This one's kind of transitional and on the short side._

* * *

**Chapter 5: Mimsy and the Plushie**

"Are these all the people you told me about, Uncle Xellos?" Mimsy whispered, leaning around the corner to get a look.

"Yes, Mimsy, but please don't do that." He pulled her back by the collar of her vest, causing her to look up at him with a pout.

"Aren't we going to say 'hi'?"

"Of course, but we can't simply just walk in there unannounced," he said brightly. "We have to make an entrance!"

Mimsy grinned. "You mean a really, really cool one? Like the one you made with the bad men?"

"Well… something like that, yes."

She gave a squeal and latched onto his legs. "Yay! We get to make an entrance! I wanna help! Can I? Can I? Please, please, _please_?"

Xellos shrugged. He supposed it couldn't hurt to let her join in. A monster with a child wasn't something even Miss Lina would expect. It might actually even be fun.

"Hey, did you guys just hear something?" he heard Aeron ask.

"Mr. Aeron, don't change the subject!" Amelia chastised. "Now, as I was saying, you and Mr. Zelgadis –"

"Also, we'd best do it _quietly_." Xellos put a finger to his lips and grinned.

**…**

"Wait, you want us to do _what_?" Zelgadis finally exploded. "Amelia, you can't be serious!"

"Yeah, I don't know the first _thing_ about construction!" Aeron protested.

"Oh, c'mon, Alan, it isn't _that_ bad," Gourry insisted. "It's manual labor, and all you have to do is use your muscles!"

"But helping rebuild the entire west wall and lookout tower isn't the only problem!" the demon chimera continued to wail, not even bothering to correct his name. "This is Saillune! Think of all the people who'll stop and stare! What if Ky sees me? I'll be humiliated!"

"Too late for that," Lina chuckled under her breath. Zelgadis shot her a look that clearly said, _"Cut. It. Out."_

"Mr. Aeron, I don't think that Miss Lina's cousin will be randomly looking out the window. She mentioned something about taking exams this week."

"But that doesn't mean everyone else won't stop and stare!"

Zelgadis blanched and narrowed his eyes in the princess's direction. "Amelia, couldn't you come up with a better solution? Like giving us something to do _inside_ the palace walls or _underground_?"

"Lighten up, Zel!" Lina said cheerfully. "You guys get to do community service in exchange for prison time. You should be grateful that the Saillune Royal Guard is so generous!"

"_Generous?_" Aeron looked at her incredulously before turning back to Amelia. "Just how much prison time are we talking here, anyway?"

"The catacombs beneath the western entrance contained many ancient artifacts and historical remains, all of them irreplaceable," Amelia explained. "Because of the extent of the damage done not only to the preserved grounds but also to the guard towers, adding on the fact that it severely crippled defenses on that side of the city, you and Mr. Zelgadis could be looking at a minimum of thirty-five years in prison each. That is if you can appeal to the court judges' good side. They really love the historical aspects of Saillune, so your sentencing might not be so lucky."

"_THIRTY-FIVE YEARS __**MINIMUM**__?_" Zelgadis cast a death-glare in his partner's direction. Aeron was suddenly beginning to wish he'd never asked the older chimera if he could tag along in his cure hunt.

_¦Couldn't tell the difference between a candle and a stick of dynamite? My, my, Aeron, we really are pathetic, aren't we?¦_ Aeron cringed inwardly at the cackling coming from the corner of his mind. If looks could kill, Zelgadis would have killed him a hundred times over today. That would have only made the demon side of him laugh even harder.

"In that case, where's the pickaxe?" he asked, sighing dejectedly. The demon was still laughing.

"That's the spirit!" Amelia cheered, oblivious to the look of consternation on his face. "Don't worry, Mr. Aeron; I'm sure you and Mr. Zelgadis will make the western entrance look wonderful again!"

"This reminds me too much of when we had to rebuild the temple of the Fire Dragon King," Zel grumbled, earning him an inquisitive look from Aeron. One additional glare in the demon chimera's direction quickly remedied the silent questioning.

"Aw, c'mon, Zel!" Lina clapped him on the back, earning a stinging hand as a result. "Maybe it's time you started taking responsibility for all the damage you caused! After all, it was_ your_ dynamite that caused the explosion."

"Yeah, see, it wasn't _entirely_ my fault!" Aeron said.

"But you _were_ the guy who lit the dynamite," Gourry pointed out. Aeron let out another wail and slammed his head into the table, succeeding only in lodging a few pieces of his hair in the wood.

"Oh, honestly, Mr. Aeron!" Amelia scolded.

"Ky's gonna kill me when she finds out… It isn't fair…" he moaned.

"Sure it is!" Lina chirped, fully enjoying the spectacle. "And don't worry about Ky: she'll forgive you later. It's like I was saying: you have to take responsibility for your actions!"

"I'm glad you agree with me Miss Lina," Amelia said, now turning to the fiery sorceress, "because you and Mr. Gourry have to help with the clean-up, too."

"I – wait, _what_?" Lina gave her an incredulous look. "What do you mean I have to help, too? I didn't blow up the towers! Or destroy the ruins!"

"No, but you and Mr. Gourry are responsible for all the damages the both of you caused when you rushed over to the scene."

"Oh, that's right!" Gourry hit his fist into one hand. "After we saw all the clouds of dust and heard the shouting, we went running. Lina used a Ray Wing and I had to run to catch up. And when we got there, Lina sent off a whole bunch of Flare Arrows and I came in swinging my sword. And that's when we found out it was Aeron and Zel! Wow, talk about irony!"

"Great going, Bait-for-Brains," Lina growled as the swordsman burst out laughing. She launched herself onto him and grabbed him in a headlock. "You idiot! Why can't you remember things when we need you to and not when it's an inconvenience?"

"But, Lina, I –!"

"My, my," came a familiar voice. "It sounds as though this has most certainly has been an active morning. I'm sorry I missed it."

"Oh, no," Aeron groaned, pulling his head up from the table, leaving a few clumps of silver blades in the wood. "Not _him_…"

"Oh, dear. It looks as though my presence is most unwelcome," Xellos flashed the demon chimera a grin from behind a steaming cup of tea. "And after all trouble I've gone through just to pay a little visit."

"'Pay a little visit'? Ridiculous!" Zelgadis snorted. "Every time _you_ show up, Xellos, catastrophe is just around the corner."

"Now, now, Zelgadis, it's not all _that_ bad," Xellos assured him, setting his teacup to the side. "Actually, I was just wondering if Miss Lina would do me a little favor."

"What favor?" the sorceress in question demanded, eyeing the monster warily.

"Ah, well, you see _that_ is –"

"Uncle Xellos! Uncle Xellos! Look, I found a plushie!"

**…**

Mimsy sat in a nearby empty cell, running her finger through her long hair and kicking her legs back and forth. Xellos had told her to remain in there until he called for her. This didn't seem too bad to the little girl, but her hair had begun to annoy her.

"Stupid knots," she mumbled, trying to pull one particularly large one apart. "Owie!"

Giving up, she let her knotted hair fall down and looked around curiously at her surroundings. Just like any other cell, it was dark and dismal; definitely not the place a little girl should be in.

"This looks like the place that Mr. Frigid put me in," Mimsy observed quietly. "But it's a lot warmer and it has a window…" she sighed and looked down at her worn boots. "I don't like this place. And I'm so _booooored_. I wonder when Uncle Xellos is going to tell me to go in…"

"Okay, so it's this hallway and the fifteenth cell on the left…" she heard a voice ponder down the corridor. "Or was it the right?"

Mimsy hopped off the bunk and scampered over to the cell door. Peering down the hall, she saw the strangest thing in her entire life: a plushie doll walking upright, looking around as if in search of something.

**…**

"Saillune's underground prison sure is big." Pokota scratched his head in frustration. "I guess they weren't kidding when they dubbed themselves the purveyors of justice, but this is getting ridiculous!" He sighed heavily; there wasn't any point in getting angry now. It wasn't the guard's fault that the prison had been constructed in such a fashion.

But why Amelia had to be down here was an entirely different matter.

"Okay, so it's this hallway and the fifteenth cell on the left… or was it the right?"

His eyes scanned along the seemingly endless corridor, the only indication of there being life in the dungeons the loud chatter taking place.

"_THIRTY-FIVE YEARS __**MINIMUM**__?_" a loud voice exploded, causing the Taforashian prince to levitate with a loud yelp.

"Sounds like somebody isn't having a good day," he said, eyeing the corridor warily. "Maybe I should just go back…"

"PLUSHIE!"

Before he could react, Pokota found himself being tackled and crushed in someone's version of a hug.

"I found a plushie in the scary dungeon! An uncle and plushie – I'm so lucky, lucky! Yay!" Round and round he was whirled, all the while being clutched to like some kind of life preserver. Pokota thought he was going to be sick.

"Can't… breathe! Lemme go!" he wheezed, and made a frantic effort to escape, only to provoke further suffocation.

"Wow, my new plushie talks!" He was pulled back and dizzily looked into what looked like two moving orbs, one a dark teal and the other honey-colored. "Hi, I'm Mimsy! What's your name?"

"Uwah… m-my name is Pokota…" he slurred. "And what's a Mimsy?"

"_I'm _Mimsy, silly!" he heard a little girl giggle. "And a Pokota is a plushie! What is the Pokota-plushie doing in the scary dungeons, though? Are you lost?"

"Uh… well, sorta… I think…"

"And then I found you!" the one called Mimsy cheered happily, hugging him against her again. "I found the missing Pokota-plushie! Just wait until I show Uncle Xellos!"

Pokota felt a new wave of nausea as the world became even more distorted and his stomach lurched. He had absolutely no clue what was going on; the next thing he knew, he was hearing, "Uncle Xellos! Uncle Xellos! Look, I found a plushie!"

Before he could place the name, he heard another voice come in, laughing nervously.

"As you can see, Zelgadis, my appearances don't always warrant catastrophe, per se – just surprises!"

* * *

_**A/N: **For anyone who hasn't followed my other stories, when Aeron mentions "Ky", he's referring to Lina's cousin, another OC of mine who probably won't be showing up here. She was Aeron's best friend before he was turned into a chimera, and tries to keep an eye out on him. In this storyline, she's currently attending Saillune's Magic Guild so she can finish up her magic training properly._

_I couldn't resist adding in Pokota. I needed a reason for Mimsy to show up at the wrong time, and he just seemed like the logical scapegoat. XD Until the next chapter!_


	6. Uncle Xellos?

**Chapter 6: Uncle Xellos?**

"Sssstupid white magic barrier around Sssaillune!" Klisp hissed in anger, the rattle at the end of his tail waving about in a furious blur. "Ssstupid little girl for taking off and _ssstupid_ Xellosss-priessst for finding her and taking her to _ssstupid_ Ssssaillune!"

If there was one thing that the scarecrow propped next to him hadn't expected to see in the field it was standing watch in, it was a blue-grey winged serpent rattling its tail and calling the city looming in the distance a variety of insulting names. Klisp had made it as far as the outer edges of Saillune's barrier and instantly regretted it.

Unlike some monsters, Klisp wasn't inclined to enjoy _any_ amount of pain inflicted upon him. The fact that a good bit of him was singed only made him angrier.

"Why did Xellosss-priessst have to find girl and take her to Sssaillune? Not fair! Massster will not be happy if Klisssp loses little girl! Klisssp-sssnake needsss a vacation…!"

**…**

"_I want you to sit here and wait until I call for you," Xellos instructed, sitting her on the lower bunk. "Understood?"_

"_Yup, yup!" Mimsy replied with a salute. "My mommy said I'm good at following instructions."_

"_Good…" he said with a grin, and quickly phased onto the Astral Plane to watch the comedy unfold as he waited for the opportune moment._

**…**

"As you can see, Zelgadis, my appearances don't always warrant catastrophe, per se," Xellos laughed nervously, inwardly twitching in irritation. Good at following instructions, huh? "Just surprises!"

The resulting silence was unnerving even for the Trickster Priest. Aeron and Zelgadis' plight and his own sudden appearance were now quite obviously forgotten as Xellos found all eyes staring at Mimsy, who was still squeezing the life out of her prized plushie.

Amelia was the first to break the silence.

"Pokota!" she shrieked, ocean blue eyes widening at the sight of the swirly-eyed stuffed animal.

Xellos let out an exasperated sigh. "Mimsy, I think you ought to put him down now."

Dark teal and honey puppy-eyes looked up at the monster pleadingly. "But I _found_ him, Uncle Xellos! Can't I keep him? Please? He's so soft and cutesy and he even has a little cape! I promise I'll take care of him! _Please?_"

"_Mimsy_…" there came the warning tone again, eyes opening to look at the child meaningfully. Rather than backing away, this time she met his authoritative glare with a pout.

"Aw… you're no fun," she whined. Xellos' stare did not waver. Defeated, she sighed. "Okay-kay…"

"H-here, I'll take him." Amelia reached out and all but snatched the Taforashian prince from Mimsy's outstretched hands. Taking care not to disorient him any further, Amelia set him on the table next to the bowl of chicken wings.

Pokota's eyes continued to whirl round and round despite him shaking his head to stop the dizziness. "H-hi, Amelia…" he looked over in the direction of the two chimeras, who'd stopped their protesting long enough to cast startled glances between the little girl and "plushie" she'd claimed to have found. "Hey… why are there two Zelgadises?"

"Uh… I'm not Zelgadis," Aeron laughed nervously. "I'm Aeron, remember?"

"Oh? Well, you look the same to me…" Pokota's dizzy gaze fell upon Lina and Gourry. "And there you two are, so I guess that explains the dungeons…"

"What was that, you mangy little flea-bitten mongrel?" Lina growled.

"The Pokota-plushie has fleas?" All eyes fell on Mimsy at her inquiry. She cocked her head to one side and regarded Pokota with a puzzled expression on her face before turning to Xellos. "Uncle Xellos, what's a flea?"

"It's a parasite, Mimsy," Xellos answered with a frown.

"But what's a pair-of-site?"

He sighed. "A bug."

"Eeeew!" She backed away and bumped into Gourry's leg.

"Who's the kid?" Lina asked, staring at the child, dumbstruck.

Gourry leaned over and pat Mimsy on the head, grinning broadly. "Hey, you're a really cute little girl! What's your name?"

"I'm Mimsy!" she chirped happily, bugs quickly forgotten. "You must be the Mr. Gourry that my Uncle Xellos was telling me about!"

"Whoa! Hold on a sec… I thought I was hearing things before, but did she just say _Uncle_ Xellos?"

Aeron's statement suddenly caused an unsettling chill to fall upon those within the cell. Lina dropped the drumstick she'd been holding. Zelgadis paled dramatically. Amelia's eyes widened and Pokota was no longer quite so dizzy. As one, they looked in the monster's direction questioningly.

Gourry, on the other hand, simply laughed and continued to pat Mimsy on the head.

"Wow, Xellos, I didn't know you were an uncle! You should've told us sooner! Congratulations!"

Both the swordsman and the child looked at the others incredulously as the others face-faulted and fell to the ground with a loud crash.

"'_Congratulations_'?" Zelgadis repeated incredulously. "Are you _serious_?"

"Oh, geez, Gourry, of all the _stupid_ –"

"Wait, when you say 'uncle', doesn't that mean he'd have to have a sibling?" Aeron's eyes widened in stark terror as he looked in Xellos' direction. "Sweet Mother of Chaos… don't tell me there are _more_ of you!"

Xellos' eyebrow twitched in irritation. "Mr. Aeron… I can _quite_ assure you that I am what one might refer to as an 'only child'."

"Thank Ceipheid for small favors," Zelgadis muttered under his breath, still looking at the child warily. "So you're saying that you're an 'uncle' –" the word came out forced "– in name only?"

"I suppose you could say that. It's merely a title she gave me, I assume for the sake of familiarity."

The sudden rush of relief that the apocalypse had not at last come was a welcome one. The only disconcerted member of the group was Gourry.

"Aw… you mean she isn't yours?" His face fell. "That's funny, because she just appeared out of nowhere just like you always do. Oh well. Must be a kid thing." He looked down at Mimsy and gave her one of his usual big, goofy smiles. "Hey, are you hungry?"

"Uh-huh."

"Then, here! Help yourself before Lina gets it all!"

"What the heck – are you _trying_ to give the kid a bad impression of me?" the aforementioned sorceress's protests fell upon deaf ears as Gourry hoisted the child next to him on the bench and slid her a plate loaded with food. "Oh… I give up…"

"Mr. Xellos?"

The Trickster Priest turned at the mention of his name and found Amelia looking at him in puzzlement. "Yes…?"

"Um… not to be rude or anything, but if Mimsy isn't related to you, then where did she come from?"

"She isn't related to Jiima, is she?" Pokota asked. "Because that tackle back there sure felt like something that crazy sprite would do."

"Actually, I'm not sure who Mimsy may or may not be related to," Xellos admitted, resigning himself to the sad fate of not withholding information. Fate was being cruel today. "You see, I came across her when investigating a large blast, and found her at the mercy of five very unhygienic bandits."

"A blast and bandits?" Lina blinked. "That's a familiar combination. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you'd come across Gourry and me."

"That _was_ my initial presumption," said Xellos. "However, in addition to coming across Mimsy and those bandits, I discovered that the blast, which happened to be magically-induced, left absolutely no trace whatsoever despite the power."

"Well, that doesn't make any sense to me," Amelia confessed, looking over to Mimsy. The girl was being offered a bowl of fruit, courtesy of the doting blond swordsman she sat next to. "Why would there be a blast and then nothing to show for it?"

"Hey, Uncle Xellos?" They turned to find Mimsy holding up a food-laden plate. "Do you want anything to eat? The food is really yummy!"

"No, thank you, Mimsy," the Trickster Priest responded wearily. "You have as much as you like."

"Okay-kay!"

"I have a question," Aeron spoke suddenly. "I can probably already guess the answer, but what were you doing when you saw that blast, anyway?"

"Now that, Mr. Aeron, is –" he stopped himself before delivering his beloved catchphrase. Now that he thought about it, while he hadn't uttered it once today (horror of horrors), perhaps it would be more interesting to pass up the opportunity in favor of this unusual turn of events.

"Let me guess: 'a secret'," Aeron sighed. "I kinda figured. Don't know why I even bothered –"

"Actually, what I was going to say is that I happened to be in the vicinity because today is my day off."

Xellos was quickly discovering the usefulness of such a simple phrase. Whenever a human boasted a day off, it was met with envy and some pride. When _he_ uttered the words, "today is my day off," it sent off a volley of confusion, uncertainty, and even fear.

Quite an interesting array of emotions, actually.

"A monster… with a day off?" Pokota gulped. "Hehehe… I didn't think you guys even _had_ those…"

"And Xellos, no less." Zelgadis suddenly looked ill at the thought. "And you were just wandering around looking for something to do…?"

"Well… yes."

Another wave of terror. Xellos had found it amusing a moment ago, but the idea of his being left to his own devices instigating all this discomfort was a bit insulting. Did they think that he would begin a wave of terror out of sheer boredom? They ought to have given him _some_ credit: his intended disaster quota for the day was originally going to be limited only to Filia's antique shop. Or if all else failed, giving Miss Lina a hard time.

"A day off and niece all at once? Hey, Xellos, today must be your lucky day!"

Leave it to Gourry Gabriev to relieve the tension.

There was a sharp tug on the corner of his cloak, followed by an "Uncle Xellos?"

He looked down and found Mimsy looking at him pleadingly with one hand extending a rather large strawberry towards him.

"Is it okay if I eat this?"

Xellos raised an eyebrow. "Why do you ask?"

"Because Mommy never let me have any before. Is it okay?"

"I see no reason why you can't…"

"Yay! Thank you!" Off she bounced back to Gourry, giggling up a storm.

Xellos sighed in exasperation. Keeping up with that little girl was far more work than he'd bargained for. _And on his day off_…

"So, anyway…" Lina started, pulling his attention away from the laughing child. "I guess the real question here is: what happens next? I mean, yeah, you found her and everything, but…"

"I think you should keep her!" Gourry laughed, wiping Mimsy's mouth of with a napkin as she chewed, the strawberry having been a bit too large for her tiny mouth. "She'd be really good to keep around!"

"You moron – he can't do that!" Lina grabbed him by the ears and yanked him sharply to her level and away from Mimsy. "Supposing she has someone who misses her – how do you think they'd react to a _monster_ taking care of their child? And, in any case, _Xellos_ raising a kid? Come _on_!"

"The poor thing…" Pokota muttered.

"Corrupted beyond all possible help…" Zelgadis lamented the very notion.

"No child should be put through such a thing," said Amelia.

"Oh, come now!" Xellos protested, becoming increasingly indignant with each passing comment. He'd come to get advice, not be insulted! "I couldn't be all _that_ bad!"

"You mean you're going to keep her?" Aeron inquired.

"Absolutely not!"

"That's a relief. You had me worried for a second there." The demon chimera laughed nervously. Xellos was dangerously close to hitting him with a choice attack spell. As far as he was concerned, there was nothing funny about being saddled with this unusual child. Aside from asking too many questions, Mimsy was too… _bouncy_! Under no circumstances would he keep her any longer than he had to.

"Yeah, but, all cracks aside, what _are_ you going to do with her?" Lina asked, dropping the blond swordsman to the floor with a dull _thud_ and turning her attention to the trickster. "Since you aren't going to keep her, I mean."

"I haven't the faintest idea," he admitted with a sigh, and looked down upon feeling a frantic tugging at the end of his cloak. Sure enough, it was Mimsy again.

He sighed once more in aggravation. Would this child _never_ leave him alone? "Yes, Mimsy? What is it?"

The little girl dropped his cloak and latched onto his arm. Through his sleeve, he could feel her face burning up. Waves of distress emitted from her body, causing him to feel somewhat alarmed at the sudden change in her aura.

"Uncle Xellos…" she moaned, voice muffled against his sleeve. "I don't feel very good…"

* * *

_**A/N:**__ I have to admit: coming up with everyone's reactions was fun but at some points kind of tricky. Poor Xellos – for a day off, he sure isn't getting any rest! XD Until the next chapter, then!_


	7. Strawberry Panic!

**Chapter 7: Strawberry Panic! Kids and White Magic Don't Mix?**

Xellos had gone to Lord Beastmaster with many questions when he was a younger monster. He remembered asking her about the proper place to hit a dragon to knock him out, the anatomy of the human form he'd learn to take on, and even general everyday questions such how much negative energy could one consume before they were considered a glutton.

But never in his over one thousand years of life had he ever gone up to his mistress and moaned, "I don't feel very good." Not even after he'd "eaten" too much.

And now he was finding this question directed at him.

Given his lack experiences with children, Xellos wasn't quite certain how to act; again, Mimsy had put him in the uncomfortable position of _uncertainty_. A position he didn't care for in the least, if he was to be honest with himself.

"Don't… _feel_ well?" he repeated, hesitant to touch the child. A closed-eyed glance upward found the others staring at her uncertainly, every bit as bewildered by this sudden turn of events as he was.

"My throat hurts and my tummy hurts," she mumbled into his arm. "And my mouth feels funny."

The next thing he knew, she was clawing her way into his lap and grabbing onto his shirt, startling him into freezing up. From under her bangs, he could see that her face was terribly flustered, and she'd begun to cry.

"Make it stop…"

"H-hey, what's wrong with her?" Pokota gulped, watching Mimsy with wide eyes. "She was okay just a moment ago…"

"Uh, oh…" the others turned to find Lina looking at the child in horrified understanding. "I think I know what's going on here."

"So do I," said Aeron.

"Same here." Zelgadis frowned. He quickly rounded on Gourry, causing the mercenary to jump back in his seat in fright at having his friend suddenly in his face. "What all did you see her eat?"

"Well… uh…" Gourry screwed up his face in concentration. "I think that chicken wing and a breadstick… a few carrots and some water…"

"… strawberry…" Mimsy offered miserably, burrowing herself further into Xellos' chest.

Zelgadis, Aeron, and Lina shared a single, startled look before setting their gazes upon the girl.

"Mimsy," Zelgadis asked carefully. "You said your throat hurts… Tell me: is it really hard to breathe?"

"Uh-huh…"

"And this only happened _after_ you ate the strawberry, right?"

Mimsy sniffled and nodded into Xellos' shirt. "Mommy told me never to eat them…"

"Aeron, get a guard and make them find a healer," Lina commanded, eyes trained on the sobbing child.

"Right on it!" he responded, and fairly tripped on his cloak in the process.

"Miss Sylphiel's here …" Amelia offered, thoroughly stunned at the ordeal. She could only hope the grey-garbed chimera had heard her, as he'd skidded out into the corridor and taken off like a shot.

"Wait, hang on a sec!" Gourry threw up his hands in utter confusion. "What's going on here?"

"Mimsy's having an allergic reaction," Lina and Zelgadis said in unison, and gave each other a questioning look.

**…**

Aeron stumbled out into the corridor and looked about wildly. For a city that stood so firmly in the name of Justice, where were the guards when you actually _needed_ them?

A quick run past the multiple cells and a few of their bored inhabitants brought him the answer in the form of a young guard with sandy hair that flew gently away from his mouth every so often as he slept while leaning against the stone wall.

"Hey, wake up!" Aeron yelled after skidding to a halt. His astonishingly sharp tone not only startled him, it had startled the guard as well: the sandy haired man snorted and shook his head, blinking furiously. He looked about in evident confusion. When his gaze landed on Aeron, he was suddenly wide awake.

"H-hey, you!" He shouted, jumping up from his slouched position. "You're supposed to be in your cell with the other guy that blew up the western defenses!" he looked about wildly. "Prison break! Prison break! One of the prisoners –!"

"You idiot, I'm not breaking out of prison!" Aeron practically screeched, startling the young guard into an abrupt silence. "I need you to get a healer down to our prison cell immediately! There's a little girl in there having a major allergic reaction, and none of us is a cleric! If Sylphiel's here, get her!"

The guard blinked fiercely. There was a prisoner out of his cell, the other one nowhere to be found, and telling him there was a child in said cell having an allergic reaction. Was he to believe this grey-colored person or –

"MOVE IT, WOULD YOU?"

"Yes, sir!" with a smart salute the guard took off like a shot, stumbling in the process.

"_Idiot_," Aeron hissed, and stalked back and forth in the corridor. If that guard didn't hurry back with Sylphiel or _somebody_ and that little girl's condition got _really_ bad, said guard was going to be in for a world of trouble. He could already come up with a few ideas… an iron maiden came to mind…

_¦Those are some pretty violent thoughts, even for you.¦ _The demon in the corner of his mind teased, clearly enjoying the current pandemonium issuing forth.

"Oh, just shut up Xa – grrr… _you piece of filth_!" he clenched his teeth together, reminding himself that they'd _all_ agreed that damned demon didn't even _deserve_ a name.

_¦And I thought that was __**Xellos'**__ title. Hehehe.¦_

He tossed all thoughts of his cackling split-personality into the proverbial garbage bin and continued to pace about restlessly as he waited for the guard to return – there was absolutely no way he'd just go back to the cell and assume the man would capably bring back a cleric. No, Aeron would wait for the buffoon, and he hoped to Ceipheid that Sylphiel was around like Amelia said. He'd seen allergic reactions before, and they were never pleasant experiences.

**…**

"How do you know _that_?" Pokota demanded.

"I worked with the Red Priest; does _that_ answer your question?" Zelgadis snapped.

"And Ky's allergic to pineapples," said Lina, not looking at all comfortable with the memory. "Believe me; I _know_ what an allergic reaction looks like."

"So she's having an allergic reaction to the… strawberry?" Gourry ventured, peering over to the now heavily wheezing child still clinging to Xellos.

"That's the only thing that would make sense," Amelia mused, also casting a worried glance in Mimsy's direction. "After all, she said her mother wouldn't let her eat them."

"Now we know why…" Zelgadis grumbled, but was inwardly disturbed as well. He'd seen a great many food allergy reactions when he'd traveled with Rezo, and none of the incidents held happy memories.

During the group's tense conversation, Xellos had not moved a single muscle, physical or astral. Mimsy's grip on his shirt and edge of his cloak only intensified with every passing moment, and he could feel the pain and fright coming off her in waves. The only thing close to this sensation that he'd felt before went along the lines of men and women standing in the face of impending doom and almost certain death – but at least those were moments he could _enjoy_!

This… this wasn't _enjoyable_. He didn't know what it was. Despite the obvious benefit her intense fear and discomfort provided for him, Xellos found himself not wanting the nourishment in the slightest. The tension in the room he welcomed as he normally would – but those wildly horrified emotions tumbling from the tiny form shaking uncontrollably in his lap he wanted only to be rid of.

How could this be? For what earthly reason would _negativity_ be a problem for a _monster_?

**…**

It seemed like nearly an eternity before Aeron at long last returned, dragging a bewildered Sylphiel by the wrist as he stalked back into the cell, muttering incoherently all the while. The moment she unlatched herself from the demon chimera's harsh grip, she let out a gasp and knelt in front of Xellos, who still had Mimsy shaking uncontrollably and wheezing even louder in his lap.

"Oh, this poor dear!" she exclaimed, emerald eyes quivering at the sight. "You must be in so much pain!"

Mimsy removed her face from Xellos' now tear-stained shirt to give the cleric a bleary look. "I don't feel good…"

Sylphiel removed one glove and placed the hand on the child's forehead, quickly removing it not long after making contact.

"She's running a terribly high fever," she noted, and looked up at Xellos inquisitively. She hadn't much experience in dealing with the purple-headed priest (the most she knew was he was a monster and could hardly be trusted, from what she'd heard of him), but judging from Mimsy's evident attachment, she felt he was the person to speak with. "How long has she been doing this?"

Xellos faltered.

"It happened immediately after she ate a strawberry," Zelgadis said in the priest's place, crossing his arms. "Not even a minute after, Mimsy ran up to Xellos and started showing her symptoms." He smirked a bit in Xellos' direction, clearly enjoying the monster's evident discomfort despite the situation.

Xellos continued to remain speechless.

"Mimsy…?" Sylphiel frowned.

"Her name is Mimsy," Xellos said at long last, earning an extra yank at his cloak from the girl as a fresh wave of pain and fear washed over her.

"And this started after she ate a strawberry…"

"M-Mommy always t-told me not to," the child whimpered.

"That's understandable. Often when a child is born, the parent's will take them to a nearby cleric to see if he or she has any specific health problems," Sylphiel explained as she continued to look at the girl with a worried frown. "If her mother never allowed her to eat strawberries, it's very likely Mimsy was found to have a horrible allergic reaction at a young age."

"So just eating a single strawberry does all _that_ to her?" Gourry cautiously slid the bowl of fruit in Aeron's direction. Aeron gave the swordsman a withering look from his place next to Zelgadis, but didn't hesitate to pluck a blackberry from the top. He was starting to feel strange in the head again, and needed a distraction.

Xellos found himself disturbed by the situation. This was the one moment in his existence that he'd allowed for misfortune and distress to befall an individual and yet derived no pleasure from the fact. Instead, he was more intent on holding onto Mimsy as her breaths came out fast and ragged, and she clutched onto him fiercely.

"Uncle Xellos… make it stop…"

She was crying nonstop now and he could sense the pain flaring up again, this time even worse. He gave a helpless, closed-eyed look in Sylphiel's direction, silently begging her to do _something_. All _he_ could do was siphon off the distress coming from the child, the very distress that he _absolutely did not want_ – he had absolutely no way of dispelling this!

And there was this realization, this completely foreign realization dawning upon him that it was _all his fault._ Why did this bother him so much?

"Sylphiel, the kid's starting to look really bad; can't you do _anything_?" Lina peered over the healer's shoulder and looked worriedly over to panting girl. Despite her fearsome reputation, Lina had a soft spot for children just like anyone else.

"Well, I do know a spell that my father once taught me…" Sylphiel began, pulling a large and dusty tome from the folds of her cape. "He was very good at dealing with emergencies, and he gave me this book so that I could learn the spells as well." She flipped through the aged pages, eyes fixated intensely on the writing. "It's a relatively well-known spell, and it's been used countless times – found it!" She got to her feet and set the text on the table. "This is a spell that should dispel the reaction in its entirety."

"Have you ever cast this spell before?" Pokota inquired, finding himself interested despite the current situation.

"Well… no, not exactly…" the shrine maiden began, laughing nervously. "At least not without supervision. But as I said before, my father taught it to me once before, so I _am_ familiar with it."

"Well, it won't hurt to try," said Amelia. She frowned upon seeing Mimsy still clinging onto her so-called uncle. "But will it be okay to cast the spell while Mr. Xellos holds onto her?"

"_No_," Aeron said gruffly, earning a round of slightly wary stares. "He's a monster in the confines of Saillune's white magic barrier, which is supported by the city's positive influxes. Aim a healing spell in his direction and believe me, he'll feel it. I'm speaking from experience on this one."

Lina groaned inwardly – leave it to Aeron to be the bearer of good tidings, even if he _was_ right. Rather than dwelling on the demon chimera's logic, however, she immediately turned to the one person she could always beat up on without repercussion.

"All right, Gourry, you hold onto this kid while Sylphiel casts the spell," she commanded, yanking the aforementioned swordsman roughly by the hair and causing him to fall from his seat at the end of the bench. "It's mostly your fault anyway for letting her get into the food in the first place."

He grimaced and rubbed his head gingerly. "Yeah, but it was Xellos' fault for letting her eat that strawberry." Seeing the evil glare he was receiving from his charge, he quickly scrambled to his feet and proceeded to take Mimsy out of Xellos' arms.

But this proved to be a difficult task.

"Nonononono!" she wailed, voice harsh and breathless and she clutched the monster's shirt in a vice-like grip. "I want my Uncle Xellos!"

"Your Uncle Xellos can't hold you while I do this, Mimsy," Sylphiel explained soothingly. "Just let Dear Gourry hold onto you, and then you can go right back to him."

"Nuh-uh." She shook her teal head violently, and continued to claw at the priest's shirt. "Please just let me stay with Uncle Xellos!"

"Man, has _she_ developed an attachment," Pokota whistled, giving the monster an odd look. Xellos returned it with a frown, but quickly turned his attention back to his screeching charge. Despite his sudden inability to properly react to the situation, it was evident he had to do something before things went even further out of control.

"Mimsy, cut it out," he reprimanded, earning him a brightly flushed face in his own, puffy teal and gold eyes staring at him imploringly. It took him aback for a moment, but he quickly shook himself mentally and opened his own eyes to look at her.

The little hiccupped and wheezed, returning his chilling amethyst gaze with red-rimmed honey and teal.

"Uncle Xellos, I'm scared."

He didn't speak. He didn't need to. He just gave her a look that demanded cooperation, at the same time helplessly (and silently) begging her to just this once listen and not cause any trouble. The others in the cell caught the look as well; all of them trying to process the strange look plastered on the monster priest's face.

After a moment, Mimsy began hacking violently, wheezing and crying at the same time.

Xellos silently rose. In sweeping across the room, he deposited the child in a suddenly very confused Gourry's arms and made his way to the back, standing just behind where Aeron and Zelgadis sat. Both amethyst eyes met the emerald ones of Sylphiel as he said only two words,

"Do it."

Sylphiel nodded and kneeled down, motioning for Gourry to do the same in front of her. Taking care not to hurt the child in his arms, the swordsman did as he was told, watching as the shrine maiden placed the aged book between them.

"Okay. Gourry, dear, please keep a hold of Mimsy," Sylphiel instructed. "Here it goes."

She placed both hands over the hyperventilating child and began to chant, a pale lavender light shining in the spaces between her spread-out fingers. As the rest of the group watched on (Xellos and Aeron both slightly winced at the surprising strength of the white magic spell already being emitted), the glow began to spread, extending from Sylphiel's hands and covering Mimsy like a fine and translucent film.

At first, everything seemed to go well. But then Xellos felt… _something_. Like a tight recoiling on the Astral Plane, _something_ wound up and drew back. It felt dark. Scared. Like a fool low-ranking demon about to be blasted by Megido Flare. Tensed. Guarded.

'_What is this?'_ he asked himself, eyes narrowing. Tension increased on both planes. A swift look down at the table in front of him revealed Aeron's hands suddenly clenching the edge of the table, shoulders tensed.

Xellos frowned heavily. If _Aeron_ could feel it, that wasn't good.

The tension increased as Sylphiel continued to chant. The coiling continued – round and round, like someone stretching out a rubber band and getting ready to release.

And there was something in the center of that coil. But what the coil was and what was in the center of it, he could put his finger on…

"SYLPHIEL, CUT THE SPELL!" Aeron's voice suddenly bellowed. He stood up abruptly, breaking Zelgadis from his observations of the casting.

The shock of the normally soft-spoken chimera startled the shrine maiden into doing exactly as he commanded.

The spell didn't end as cleanly as it was cast: something happened; something only Xellos and Aeron could feel and see in its entirety, but enough that the others felt it as well. Like some kind of blast from the Astral Plane, it slammed against them with stunning force, enough that Xellos had to brace himself against the impact. Aeron fell backwards from his place on the bench, startling Zelgadis considerably. Pokota latched onto Amelia's head and clung to it like a life preserver, eyes wide and scared.

The coiling had given out and snapped. What they'd felt was the backlash.

The spell. The spell had triggered it.

And then, just as quickly as it came, the cell was submerged into a terrifying and silent calm. Not even a breath later, Mimsy's wailing returned.

In a fraction of a second, Xellos found himself gone from utter confusion to absolute outrage. Without a word, he stalked up to where the blond swordsman sat and promptly swept the child up and into his arms. Upon feeling Mimsy's tiny and shaking arms wrap around his neck, he rounded on the others, eyes opened and blazing.

"What did you _do_?" he demanded, somewhat stunned by the harsh tone in his voice. It was far worse than he'd intended, and caused the group to freeze in sharp terror. Mimsy's loud cries were slowly reducing down to wracking sobs, but even that was enough to accentuate the gravity of the situation.

Sylphiel quaked in the monster's bone-chilling gaze, mouth agape and breathing coming out in quick gasps. She couldn't speak, not even to defend herself. All she could do was stare in blind terror at the priest as his cold amethyst eyes bored into her.

"That's enough, Xellos." The sound of Gourry's voice broke the effect, and Xellos slid his gaze over to blond swordsman in irritation.

Blue eyes narrowed in response. "All Sylphiel did was cast a healing spell," he said slowly. "I don't it's fair for you to get mad at her for whatever-it-was that just happened."

Xellos could barely respond as Mimsy's arms tightened considerably around his neck. The pain she'd been experiencing was only now subsiding, and in its place were fear, uncertainty, and the kind of exhaustion one would expect after battling some kind of horrible antagonist.

He adjusted his hold of her and felt her head slide down his shoulder. Her breathing was becoming slow and steady, a sign that she was quickly falling unconscious from her experience. With the state she was in currently, he didn't think it would be a good idea to teleport her out of there. Not until she felt better at least.

He cast one last unfavorable glare upon the group, allowing his full irritation of not having gained any favorable assistance from them to be known, and turned around to exit the cell by a less convenient method: walking.

"Hey, Xellos." He turned back upon hearing his name, and found Aeron Guthrie giving him a hard look. The demon chimera was wincing as he held onto to one side of his head, as if he'd been delivered a harsh blow. "There's something off about that kid. I'm pretty sure you saw it, too."

Xellos' brow furrowed. If his eyes had been opened, he would have narrowed them.

It was then that he realized that Aeron was not looking at him, but at Mimsy. His silver eyes were hard and narrowed – for a moment, Xellos thought that the chimera had unconsciously reverted to his demonic side in amidst the confusion.

"Keep an eye out on her," Aeron said. His voice was coming out rough and with an edge, all too close to the way he sounded whenever he switched personalities.

Xellos didn't respond, settling instead for cracking one eye open to regard the grey-cloaked figure for a brief moment before turning on his heel and sweeping out of the cell with Mimsy and his staff cradled in his arms.

When the two had left and the sound of Xellos' boots hitting the stone floor subsided, Aeron relaxed visibly and slumped in his seat, putting his head in his hands. "My head hurts," he mumbled. The edge and roughness were gone, now replaced by his usual soft tone but sounding considerably drained.

"What was all _that_ about?" Zelgadis demanded.

He peered up at the older chimera through his fingers and frowned. "There was something really weird about what happened when Sylphiel cast that healing spell."

"Yeah, tell me about," Lina agreed, sinking on the bench across from them. "I've heard of spells backfiring or being ineffective, but I've never heard of anyone having an adverse reaction from a _healing spell_."

"Neither have I," Sylphiel admitted, looking down in embarrassment. She finally had a voice to speak with now that Xellos was no longer there. "I hope I didn't cast the spell incorrectly for it to have hurt her so badly…"

"No, Sylphiel, I don't think that was it," Zelgadis stated, folding his arms. "From what I could gather, it looked like Mimsy was having an adverse reaction to it all on her own." A troubled look passed over his face. "But how could that even be possible?"

"Well it couldn't be because she's a demon or anything," Gourry pointed out, earning astonished looks from all those present. "I mean Zel and Aeron are _both_ part demon and they can cast healing magic spells. And Zel can take a healing spell just fine."

"Yeah, but _I_ have to be careful…" Aeron muttered miserably before burying his head in his arms again.

"Surprisingly enough, Gourry is actually making sense again," Lina remarked, blinking incredulously. "And considering Rezo the Red Priest was adept in white magic, I don't think any kind of _possession_ would be the cause of it."

"You just had to bring _him_ up," Zelgadis groaned. "But, I suppose you're right. After all, Rezo used to experiment on himself a lot. I never would have guessed he'd had one of the seven pieces of Shabranigdo inside of him with all the high-level white magic spells he used to cast on himself."

"So what could have caused her to react like that?" Gourry asked, now more confused than ever.

"I dunno, but there's something weird about that kid," Aeron said, earning curious looks from the others around him. Feeling their inquisitive stares, he continued to explain. "Something happened on the Astral Plane, and I know Xellos saw it. Something just… _twisted_ and snapped; flashed in reaction to the spell – that was what you guys felt when the spell snapped. It… it caused the spell to go haywire. Out of control. The problem is, I don't know just what the heck it was and from the look on Xellos' face it was pretty obvious that _he_ didn't get it, either. I mean, I know what happens when _I_ come in contact with a white magic spell, but this is totally over my head."

"Xellos not understanding something comes across as being a little unnerving," Lina said, unease creeping over her. "Then again, _Xellos_ _taking care of a_ _kid_ is unnerving."

"I agree," said Zelgadis.

"There's something weird about that little girl," Pokota mused. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think that _she_ was the reason the spell went haywire to begin with."

"You wouldn't be too far off…" Aeron muttered.

There was an awkward silence that followed. Out of all of them, Aeron was probably the only one capable of understanding even a fraction of what happened on the Astral Plane. Being a sort of monster hybrid in his own right, he could see things that Xellos could, only to a lesser extent. They didn't know what he'd seen, but they were inclined to agree that Mimsy wasn't an average, innocent little girl with a terrible allergy to strawberries.

"Well… now that that's over…" Gourry began, earning wary glances. He blinked a little before inquiring: "Weren't we supposed to fix whatever-it-was we destroyed earlier?"

Lina's look went from cautious to utterly furious. "Wha- _GOURRY_!"

"Thanks a lot," Zelgadis grumbled as Aeron let out a long-suffering groan.

"Well, that explains why the western entrance was closed," Pokota snickered. "I should've known you guys would have been to blame for that."

"Watch it, Fuzz Bucket!" Lina snarled, jamming a fork down just in front of the prince's now very startled face. "And just what the heck are _you_ doing here, anyway?"

"Hey, _I'm_ only here because Amelia forgot to sign a few papers!" Pokota defended, jumping to his feet. "How was I supposed to know that she'd be down in the dungeons, talking to all you people?" He blinked for a moment and then turned in the Saillune princess's direction. "Hey, why _are_ you down here, Amelia?"

"Dispensing '_Justice'_," Aeron mumbled bitterly with a cringe. "Bitter, unmerciful, lovely '_Justice'_."

"I knew it," they heard the girl mutter, almost triumphantly. The entire group looked at her questioningly. Her back was to them as she faced the cell's barred entry.

"Uh… Amelia?" Lina prompted.

Amelia turned around, fairly frightening them with the look on her face.

"I knew it! I knew it! At first I thought Mr. Xellos was up to something horribly nefarious, but his actions just now have proven me wrong!" she sighed dreamily.

"Amelia, what are you going on about?" the Sorceress Supreme demanded, hands on her hips.

"Oh, Miss Lina, how could you be so blind? It's so obvious that Mr. Xellos was concerned for Mimsy's wellbeing! It's true after all – Mr. Xellos really has a heart!"

In amidst the disbelieving stares and blank looks around him, Aeron snorted. "Keep dreaming, Amelia." He plucked an apple from Gourry's now-ignored plate and absentmindedly bit into it. He chewed for a moment before noticing something off about the taste. He quickly grabbed Zelgadis' napkin and spat out the chewed up mush before looking back to the pilfered fruit in irritation.

When he found a bright green little worm smiling up at him, he gave a nervous chuckle and put the apple back on Gourry's plate.

* * *

_**A/N:**__ K-chan returns! Muwhahahaha! Please forgive me for the absurdly late update (2 whole months – eep!) – I've had some trouble with this chapter, and found it to be a bit more difficult than I'd anticipated. A bunch of other things came up and… ugh… _

_Mimsy's more of an enigma than Xellos realized. Just what has he gotten himself into? Keep on the lookout for the next chapter. Until then, peace out! ^_^_


	8. Saillune Soft Serve for the Mazoku Soul

**Chapter 8: Saillune Soft-Serve for the Mazoku Soul**

The streets of Saillune were teeming with life, crowds passing in all directions as noon continued to slip away. The sun shone brightly overhead and the chirping of birds was almost drowned out by the loud chatter droning all around.

In the midst of the inner-city bustle, Xellos walked briskly in silent and rather angry contemplation. A dark cloud seemed to have formed over his head, and anyone he passed would quickly fall silent and back away as if sensing an ominous and threatening aura.

The Lady of Fate herself was conspiring against him – of that Zelas's General-Priest was certain. Centuries of karma had at long last caught up with him and the evanescent Controller of Destinies was reaping sweet retribution for all the trouble he'd given her. What other rationale could there possibly be for his first ever day off to turn out like this? Just when he thought he'd get to enjoy himself, he was instead unraveling the mystery surrounding a small child!

Said small child was struggling to keep up with her beloved "uncle" as he continued to storm off in a huff. Xellos chose to ignore the shrill cries of "Uncle Xellos! Wait for me!" Why should he wait for her? All she'd done was cause him trouble that he didn't want or need. Little children weren't meant to be so bothersome – at least that was the way he saw it.

But trouble she caused, and frankly Xellos had had enough of it. That little fiasco in the Saillune Royal Prison only cinched his decision to deposit her off somewhere and leave it at that.

'_But aren't you curious?'_ a sneaky, niggling voice in the back of his mind inquired. _'Don't you want to know what makes that child such a nuisance?'_

No. No, he did _not_, Xellos decided. It was enough of a conundrum to figure out her appearance with those bandits without having to wrap his head around the incident with Sylphiel's white magic spell. Tacking on the curiously rapid course of recovery the child had taken – waking up not even half an hour after Xellos had exited the Saillune Royal Palace – only made matters even more complicated.

This was _his day off_ – complications weren't supposed to happen!

"Uncle Xellos!" the complication of the day cried out for the umpteenth time, finally managing to grasp onto the monster's cloak. "You walk too fast!"

"Then you should try keeping up better," he growled, snatching his cloak back. She was really trying his patience, and that was saying something; Xellos had a rather long fuse and thus far there were only two people (both of them female, ironically) in the entire realm of Shabranigdo capable of irritating him. Mimsy was rapidly earning herself the prized third position today.

"But I can't!" the girl protested, reaching out to yank at his cloak again. Mimsy stumbled a little and halted. "What did I do wrong?"

What did she do wrong? Oh, of all the questions that child could ask at the moment…

Xellos stopped abruptly.

"You told me that your mother said you were good at following instructions," he said through his teeth. He looked back over his shoulder, amethyst eyes all but glaring at the child behind him. "You also said that you would stay put. So why did you disobey me?"

Mimsy gulped. "Are you mad?"

Was he 'mad'? _Mad_, she asked! _Mad_ was an understatement!

"Mimsy…" he turned fully, allowing his cold gaze down upon the child. "When an adult tells you to do something, there is a good reason for it. Is that something beyond your comprehension?"

"N-no, but –"

"No 'buts'," he snapped. "What in the name of Shabranigdo were you thinking back there? I told you to stay put and what do you do? Bounce in toting the Prince of Taforashia!"

"I thought he was a plushie…" Mimsy whimpered. Mismatched eyes quavered as she began to notice people staring in their direction.

"And that was reason enough to randomly pick up strange object?" Xellos demanded, arms folded and staff clutched in one hand as he looked down at her disapprovingly. "When I tell you to do something, you're supposed to listen, not go against orders!"

What he said seemed to have hit a nerve. Mimsy's eyes widened in stunned horror; her face paled dramatically. To Xellos' intense discomfort, her eyes began to overflow with tears.

"Y-you…" She hiccupped and clenched her fists together before squeezing her eyes shut and screaming, "_You're just as bad as Mr. Frigid!_"

And with that Mimsy took off, shoving aside the adults bustling around her and ignoring the indignant shouts that followed.

Xellos was… stunned. All of a sudden, the bubbling anger seemed to cool and dissipate, leaving only behind the stark confusion that had been plaguing him the entire morning.

What was going on with him? He seldom ever lost his temper, and even on the rare occasions he did, he managed to keep himself in check. Control, poise, dignity – as a monster, it was in his nature to remain calm and superior in all situations. Outright losing his temper simply wasn't in his repertoire. Even when Filia and Jiima pushed him to his limits, he always managed to maintain his composure.

Losing his temper at a child – what was he thinking?

Quickly tracing Mimsy on the Astral Plane, Xellos teleported after her with a heavy sigh, and ignored the startled gasps of those around him as he disappeared.

He popped back up in yet another crowded section, this time right in front of the very child he was after. Mimsy was too upset to notice, and consequently ran smack into him.

"What the –?" she looked up and let out a loud gasp. "Uncle Xellos?"

"Let's try this again," he said exasperatedly, kneeling down to her level. "Now then, why was bringing the Pokota-plushie so important that you disobeyed my order to stay put?"

Mimsy stared at him in disbelief. "Promise you won't get mad at me?"

"I promise. Priest's honor." He raised one gloved hand in oath, giving her a prize-winning grin for effect.

Mimsy looked off to the side, wringing her tiny hands.

"I-it's just that I've never had anyone to share things with before," she sniffled. "Mommy was the only one I could ever share with, but she was busy all the time and got sick a lot. And none of the other kids ever wanted to play with me because their mommies and daddies said I was a… a…" she hiccupped. "A bad in-flu-ence. And then Daddy and his friends never let me have any fun because Mr. Frigid said I had to learn things. Any time I found something fun, Daddy got rid of it. I had a kitty and he didn't let me keep her. Or my bunny. Or the wolf puppy I found in the snow."

"Ah… Maybe he just didn't like pets," Xellos suggested pleasantly. Though his eyes were now closed again, he noticed the stares he and his little charge were currently receiving. He was beginning to get a little uncomfortable. Perhaps teleportation hadn't been such a good idea after all. "Animals in general can be a lot of work."

"But that's all Daddy does – _work!_" Mimsy wailed, causing the monster to cringe. Even more people stopped to stare. "And whenever I got stuck with Mr. Frigid, he would throw me in a cell and it was cold and there weren't any windows! He left me in there for over a week one time and nobody came to visit! I didn't get to eat or anything!"

Xellos frowned even further as the child continued to bawl. "And the strawberry?"

"I-I didn't know!" she insisted. "Mommy never told me why I couldn't have them. We never had any in the house, and I've always wanted to try one because I used to see other people eat them and they looked good." She looked up and sniffled loudly. "I'm really sorry, Uncle Xellos!"

Looking back on the incident years later, Xellos realized that he had either finally gone soft or had officially lost his mind. No sooner had Mimsy sobbed out her apology he scooped her up and gave her a hug, allowing her to sob into his shoulder. While passerby may have awed at the sight or commented how sweet it was, inwardly Xellos was withering. The sheer thoughtlessness of the act, the kindness – utterly out of character and yet somehow right in an awkward kind of way.

Whatever it was that had possessed him to do this seemed unrelenting, for the next thing he said surprised him completely:

"I have an idea: how would you like to try some of Saillune's world-famous soft serve?"

Mimsy raised her tear-streaked face up, eyes looking at him curiously. "What's that?"

"A secret~!" he said cheerfully, tapping her on the nose. Mimsy giggled.

Yes, Xellos, General-Priest to Lord Beastmaster Zelas Metallium, and the infamous Trickster Priest, had indeed lost his mind.

**…**

It didn't take the two long to find Xellos' preferred soft-serve stand, and soon monster and girl were sitting off to the side of main road, backs against a warm stone wall and eating the refreshingly cool treat.

Xellos found it rather amusing that Mimsy hadn't the slightest idea how to eat ice cream; her first attempt ended up with more vanilla and fudge swirl on her lips and nose than what had landed in her mouth. She giggled up a storm when he wiped her face clean with one of the napkins he'd wisely taken from the vendor's cart.

As he sat there calmly consuming the tasty dessert, Xellos allowed his mind to wander further in the scope of his situation. This little truce here only further proved the necessity of seeking aid, and it was now painfully obvious that Lina Inverse hadn't been the proper person to seek out. What he needed wasn't so much an expert on magical mayhem and the raiding of ancient artifacts; the first thing he had to do was find someone who knew how to deal with the one thing he knew absolutely nothing about.

Then it hit him: while he himself may have lacked sufficient skills at handling children, he knew someone who _did_; specifically, a golden dragoness raising her own (adopted) son.

The proverbial light bulb clicked on.

Xellos grinned smugly to himself as he leaned back against the sun warmed building behind him and relaxed. It looked like he was going to get a chance to stick to his proposed agenda after all.

As he continued to lick at his ice cream, Xellos looked down to find Mimsy having again succeeded in wearing a good bit of hers on her mouth and nose. It wasn't at all surprising to find that he knew absolutely nothing about children – his job called for death, destruction, espionage, and psychological warfare on the best of occasions. When it came to assignments involving children, he was batting zero.

"Hey, Uncle Xellos?" he was pulled from his revelation by the sound of a suddenly sleepy Mimsy. "Tell me: how you do that?"

A purple eyebrow rose. "How do I do what?"

"Take all the bad things and make them go away," she answered with a yawn. Her ice cream was dangerously close to slipping onto Xellos' cloak.

Torn between sticky fudge and vanilla swirl getting onto an extension of his Astral body and confusion by the statement, Xellos plucked the ice cream cone from her hand before asking, "What do you mean by that?"

She yawned again and scooted into his lap. He held still as she snuggled up against his chest.

"Because every time I get upset you make it go away like water down a drain," she replied sleepily. Tiny hands latched onto one end of the sash about his waist. He heard her mumble, "You're comfy," before she finally fell asleep.

Xellos took one withering look at Mimsy's leftover ice cream before downing the rest himself. Why put good dessert to waste? Even so, though, he was left with a little girl curled up in his lap and still without a single notion of how to deal with her. With any luck, the latter issue would soon be dealt with.

Funnily enough, though, Xellos was beginning to get used to Mimsy's clingy nature. He didn't even notice how it wasn't affecting him in the slightest…

**…**

Lunch came late in the Ul Copt household that day. With the town founding festival only a few short days away, visitors from surrounding towns and villages had relentlessly flooded into the tiny shop with the overhanging depiction of a vase and a mace in the front that overlooked the now busy street.

Filia let out a content sigh as she hung up the "Out to Lunch – Be Back Soon" sign in the front window. Sales were skyrocketing and her new shipments of antique jars from a small town in the outer territories had arrived early against all odds. Today was shaping up to be a fine one. Absolutely nothing, she told herself, could possibly go wrong.

The counter to her pleasant thoughts came in the form of the doorbell ringing.

"I wonder who that could be?" she wondered aloud, setting aside one of her custom-made pottery pieces next to the register. Her brow furrowed upon hearing a sharp rapping on her back door. She didn't recall anyone telling her they'd be stopping for a visit during her lunch break…

Much to her irritation, rapping and doorbell-ringing continued in succession – evidently _someone_ was thinking they could have some fun with her. In Filia's mind this was a major mistake; simply no one in their right mind intruded upon a _hungry_ dragon. Particularly a hungry _female_ dragon who needed to feed her _hungry son_ before she could sit down to eat. The nerve of some people!

Fully intent on giving the unwanted visitor a piece of her mind, Filia stormed in the direction of the backdoor. She just barely missed the small, teal-haired child poking his head out from the kitchen.

"Mommy, there's somebody at the door!" he informed her, looking up at her expectantly.

"I know sweetie," she replied, sparing the child a small smile. "Why don't you go ahead and pull the sandwiches out and start eating? I'll be in soon."

"Okay!" Val gave her a toothy grin and ducked back into the kitchen.

Sighing to herself, Filia continued her march to the door. Upon reaching it (and discovering that the knocking and doorbell-ringing were _still_ going on!), she wrenched the door opened and let out a screech.

"Oh, no, not _you_ again!"

"Now, now, Filia," Xellos teased, waggling his finger teasingly. "We mustn't lose our temper again~."

The hand holding onto the door handle clenched involuntarily. "Get. Away. From. My –"

"Is this the Miss Filia you were telling me about?"

Filia deflated considerably at the small and curious voice that interrupted her. Blinking several times, she looked up to find a wide set of teal and honey gold eyes staring back at her from under dark teal bangs.

The little girl perched on Xellos' shoulders lean forward, plastering the Trickster Priest's bangs firmly over his eyes.

"Wow! You're pretty!" she chirped, and let loose a giggle.

Filia was too stunned for words.

* * *

_**A/N:**__ Please forgive me if Xellos came across as being out-of-character. I wanted to put in some bonding between the two, and came up with this as a result. Writing a fluffy chapter for Xellos and Mimsy was hard, but so cute! XD Until the next chapter! ^_^_


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